Introduction
In this quantitative research, it is investigated whether or not minority students’ perceptions of their own ability to succeed in STEM-related fields in college impact their likelihood of sticking with the major long enough to get a degree. Given that variables affecting minority students may be missed in large-scale studies of STEM persistence, a thorough literature review will be conducted. The purpose of this literature review is to examine the available research on the topic of how various variables may affect the academic performance of minority students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in higher education settings. The literature will begin by reviewing factors that affect the representation of minorities in STEM.
The review will further examine factors that affect the retention rate of minority students and further examine variables relating to self-efficacy. This study of literature includes examples from different sources that highlight other aspects that have a role in determining representation and retention rate. Recent research has shown the interplay between social barriers in regard to racial inequality, barriers related to negative career outcomes, and unstable stress coping mechanisms are determinants in the retention rate and self-efficacy of minority students (Myers et al., 2011). To what extent certain variables impact the success rates of minority students in finishing four-year STEM degrees is an open question that is being investigated. Studies have gone to confirm our hypothesis, and they will be highlighted in the references.
This literature study included data gleaned from electronic databases of academic publications (Google Scholar), scientific research (NCBI) articles, published journals, and educational research (ERIC) articles. The search for this publication was limited to empirical studies already in print that contained the different measures pertaining to underrepresented groups in STEM. Underrepresented minorities or Black and women with combinations of STEM, motivation, perseverance, college, socioeconomic, mentoring, and self-efficacy were searched for to eliminate discrepancies between underrepresented and overrepresented minority groups.
Searches conducted using the terms STEM, science, and mathematics all returned comparable results. Multiple searches, as well as my focus group, brought up the topic of “first-generation college student” (Arcidicono et al., 2016). My literature searches yielded several citations, and my study sorted through them all to find the ones most relevant to my work and exclude the others. I read abstracts and full texts of articles that looked at racial inequalities in degree achievement or minority students’ self-efficacy to determine whether they matched the review’s criteria for methodology and findings. Finally, this literature review includes any published articles that investigate other variables that might impact persistence, especially those related to racial inequities.
Factors affecting representation of minorities in STEM
Women make up less than a quarter of the workforce in the United States, and they are grossly underrepresented in STEM professions. Women of color are significantly less likely to pursue careers in STEM; in the United States, fewer than five percent of bachelor’s degree recipients are women of color of any race (Palmer et al., 2010). Across the private sector, academic institutions, and the federal government in the United States, people of color are underrepresented in leadership roles in STEM. Diversity, creativity, and innovation all benefit when more women and people of color work in STEM disciplines. However, there is a dearth of information on minority students who are majoring in STEM and the variables that contribute to their engagement in the field.
The number of students from underrepresented groups who choose to major in STEM fields might be affected by a number of variables. Both internal psychological aspects, like their mentoring experiences and preferences, and external contextual variables, like their academic mentality, STEM attitudes, and family background traits, may have a role (Wilde et al., 2019). By analyzing the perspectives and experiences of students from different backgrounds in STEM fields across various areas, we may perhaps learn something that will aid in the creation of initiatives to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups in STEM fields.
The academic mentality, or the student’s psyche and fundamental beliefs, is a potential determinant of scholastic tenacity and success in the STEM fields. Whether students have a feeling of “belonging” or acceptance and fit in STEM is a key academic mentality. Previous studies have shown that students from underrepresented groups, such as women and members of minority ethnic groups, are more likely to question their academic legitimacy than students from more dominant groups (Flowers et al., 2012). Students’ STEM identities, the extent to which they see STEM as fundamental to their sense of self, are shaped by their feeling of community and their enthusiasm for STEM subjects. Students’ perspectives on intelligence and whether they believe it to be permanent and unchangeable (fixed mentality) or something that can be acquired through time with work and devotion (growth mindset) might also affect their interest in and persistence in STEM fields (a growth mindset). Underrepresented minorities in STEM fields have been proven to benefit greatly from adopting a growth mindset.
Having a feeling of community in STEM may help students succeed academically and stay in the field, which is especially important for women and students of color. Connecting with mentors may help students from underrepresented groups feel more at home in the STEM community (Garratt et al., 2017). Some educators believe that mentorship programs might assist increase participation and graduation rates among minority students in the STEM fields. There is a paucity of data from minority STEM students on their perspectives and preferences with mentoring since few research have examined whether finding a mentor of the same race and gender is personally significant to women and students of color in STEM. Women and students of color who have shown perseverance in STEM professions are underrepresented, and it is important to learn about their perspectives.
Multiple studies have demonstrated that girls and boys, particularly girls, adopt gender roles in early adolescence depending on their exposure to media and society. Women’s interest in STEM fields may be dampened by media portrayals of men and women in stereotypical positions. Predictors of STEM identity in higher education included early experiences of acquaintances having conversations in regards to science and seeing scientific media. Nowadays’ kids spend a lot of time connecting with media platforms and learning from social media influencers, and the sorts of media to which they are exposed are constantly evolving (Lomotey, 2010). As an alternative to or in addition to face-to-face contact, underrepresented students may benefit from exposure to ethnically diverse STEM professionals via media. Given the dearth of women and members of underrepresented minorities in STEM fields who are in a position to mentor and inspire aspiring students, exposure to the media may be especially helpful. Researchers may learn more about how to help underrepresented students succeed in the STEM fields by evaluating the qualities of mentors who have a positive impact on such students.
The purpose of this project is to gain insight into the positive and negative influences of minority students on retention of STEM. “In contrast to other studies, this one is comprised almost entirely of women and people of color who are committed to a future in STEM and have maintained their interest in the field through at least their second year of college” (Dalati et al., 2018). To better understand what qualities in a mentor might encourage minority students to pursue STEM jobs, we sought to learn about their mentoring experiences and preferences regarding exposure to a mentor who shared their gender and ethnicity, either in person or via media. They were also asked about their academic mindsets in terms of science identity, growth mindset, and a sense of belonging in the STEM community, as well as about other components in relation to their choice to pursue a career in STEM.
Theoretical framework
Despite projections that jobs in the STEM fields would increase at the quickest rate and pay the most in the years to come, only a small percentage of students enroll in STEM programs in college and go on to work in the field. African Americans and women make up just 9% of the total STEM workforce and receive 11% of all scientific and engineering degrees (Boucher et al., 2017). The underrepresentation of persons of color in STEM disciplines is becoming more of a concern as the United States’ population changes fast, and a trained STEM workforce is needed to maintain economic development and global competitiveness. The current national push to increase the number of minority students with STEM degrees highlights the need for more study into the connections between institutionalized racism in schools, students’ emotional reactions to injustice, and their aspirations for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Social barriers to retention rates in STEM
According to studies, minority students also have to contend with social and psychological hurdles that prevent them from pursuing careers in STEM. Understanding the mechanics of stigmatization is crucial for comprehending the nuances and dynamics of racial and gender stigmatization, as well as its consequences on members of stigmatized groups (Aguayo et al., 2017). Negative treatment and overt discrimination, reinforcement of expectations, automatic activation of stereotypes, and identity threats all fall under the umbrella of stigma. The following mechanisms can be seen in the experiences of students of color in the STEM fields: (1) educational resources and opportunities being unequally distributed; (2) self-fulfilling prophecies, stereotype threat, underperformance, and disengagement; (3) avoidance of certain subjects and fields and endorsement of stereotypical beliefs; (4) perceptions of bias and anticipation of bias. Limited access to essential institutions that impact social standing, mental and physical health, and educational prospects is an example of negative treatment and direct discrimination. It is important to note that prejudice, discrimination, and microaggressions are all part of this direct discrimination, as well as structural hurdles and injustices in K-12 schooling.
The term “expectation confirmation processes” is used to describe the dynamic between a group or organization and a single person in which the victim’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are influenced by the perpetrator’s actions, often to the point where the initial, incorrect expectation is confirmed (Jennings et al., 2015). This phenomenon, which has been labeled the “self-fulfilling prophecy,” was observed in elementary schools and was first described by the authors. In this setting, teachers had preconceived notions about their students and conveyed those notions to their pupils via both overt and covert means. Less is known about how teachers’ perceptions of students’ mathematical ability and the stereotypes they hold in regards to the capability of students in STEM subjects, and which behaviors can affect student outcomes, but the same mechanisms are at play among underrepresented students of color in STEM.
Structural barriers to retention in STEM
In addition to structural hurdles in educational access and opportunity, the underrepresentation of persons of color in STEM disciplines has been connected to social/psychological barriers and reactions to inequities and societal stigmatization, according to the literature. According to Critical Race Theory (CRT), racial inequalities and institutionalized racism are the root causes of educational inequity (Hanselman, 2017). In order to achieve success and competitiveness in STEM fields, K-12 students from low-income and minority backgrounds require equitable school funding, scientific equipment and facilities, high-quality teachers, computer and technology science courses, and an advanced curriculum.
Underrepresented students of color also face difficulties in higher education, such as a lack of academic preparedness and advanced curriculum in high school, a lack of mentoring from same-race role models and instructors, and a perception of an unwelcoming unfriendly atmosphere. African American and Latino kids, as a result of these obstacles, have considerably lower rates of competency in science and mathematics than their White and Asian classmates, have a lower likelihood of accessing and succeeding in advanced curriculum, and have a lower degree of college preparedness (ACT, 2011; SAT, 2011). “Only 22% of Latino students and 18% of African American students who desired to major in a STEM area finish a Bachelor’s Degree in STEM within 5 years, therefore the results of K-12 education have substantial consequences for STEM persistence in higher education and degree completion” (Hanselman, 2017).
Barriers related to negative carrier outcomes
Research undertaken with African-American and female high school students shows that these students perceive racism to be pervasive in institutional and social settings and report experiencing racial prejudice and discrimination themselves. Furthermore, among African American teenagers, perceptions of racial disparity in schools have been shown to have a detrimental impact on a variety of academic outcomes, including grades, self-concept, and psychological/behavioral involvement (Schlesinger et al., 2017). Latino high school students reported higher levels of difficulty in achieving their educational and professional objectives than white students did. However, these studies did not examine the underrepresentation of women and people of color in the STEM areas. Few studies have looked at how minority students’ views of structural and psychological obstacles to pursuing STEM courses in higher education affect their motivation to pursue careers in STEM.
According to the Social Cognitive Theory of Job Development, factors such as gender and race or ethnicity affect professional choices. They do so by molding the kinds of experiences that, in turn shape beliefs about one’s own abilities and the likelihood of achieving one’s desired career outcomes (Toker et al., 2012). Further, the Social Cognitive Theory of Job Development argues that one’s career goals and the paths taken to pursue them may be influenced by one’s immediate environment, including one’s perception of possible obstacles. Theories of overcoming stigmatization include that identifying less with oneself, discounting one’s efforts, and disengaging from one’s goals in the workplace are all ways in which people view of inequity, discrimination, and/or stereotypes may have an effect on their professional ambitions.
Student members of stigmatized groups may withdraw from academic contexts when stereotype threat is present, as has been shown in experimental investigations. “In the context of STEM, stereotype threat has been proven to decrease enthusiasm and encourage female students to consider changing their major to one that is less traditionally held by men” (Rury et al., 2017). Moreover, when women experienced more negative gender stereotypes and felt less included in their math classroom, their performance suffered and they lost interest in continuing their math education.
Stress and coping mechanisms
Pressure and stress-handling mechanisms have been recognized as useful paradigms for investigating how racism and discrimination affect people of color and how they respond to it. “The cognitive evaluation of the demands made by a stressor (primary appraisal), the appraisal of resources to deal with these demands (secondary appraisal), and the reaction to the stressor are all components of the stress process” (Riegler-Crumb et al., 2019). Some types of stressful events that may be faced in the context of STEM education include explicit stereotyping, stereotype threat engagement, and inequitable access to and opportunity in education. An individual’s coping strategies are determined in large part by how they evaluate the demands placed upon them and the resources at their disposal.
Therefore, it is crucial to investigate not only the primary appraisals of impediments to STEM education held by underrepresented students, but also the secondary appraisals of resources and coping methods held by these students. Using the stress-and-coping paradigm, we can look at the strategy’s minority students use to deal with the pressures of trying to succeed in STEM fields at the university level, as well as the kind of resources they have access to (Kusurkar et al., 2012). Coping reactions, which may be conscious or unconscious, are defined as mental and behavioral attempts to deal with pressures that are evaluated as surpassing the person’s resources. Students of color may respond to race-related stress and structural inequities in a number of ways, including by being more resilient and working harder to overcome barriers, or by becoming disengaged with or rejecting a particular area.
Female students may respond to gender-based stress by shifting their academic and professional interests away from disciplines traditionally dominated by men. Understanding the appraisals of structural inequalities and the repercussions associated with these appraisals is the focus of the present research, which investigates the positive and negative influences on successful retention rate and self-efficacy of STEM minority students. Few studies have looked at how students’ perceptions of structural and psychological constraints affect their motivation to major in STEM fields in higher education. “There is a lack of data on the explicit perceptions of both structural and psychological barriers specific to underrepresented racial groups and the pursuit of STEM studies, despite evidence from stereotype threat studies suggesting that members of negatively stereotyped groups are harmfully affected by societal stereotypes and threat activation” (Domenech Rodriguez et al., 2017).
Even little is known about how these attitudes could shape future achievements in STEM fields. Also deserving of further study is the demographic of high-achieving African American and Latino high school pupils in mathematics and science (Sibulkin et al., 2011). Particularly relevant, given that greater academic performance in high school are the best predictors of earning undergraduate STEM degrees. This demonstrates that the possible association between perceived hurdles and STEM ambitions may be clarified by focusing on high-achieving pupils rather than those with lesser academic aptitude, ego, and self-efficacy.. There is still a lot to learn about the ways in which high-achieving students from underrepresented backgrounds deal with the challenges they face and their goals for a career in STEM, in particular.
In spite of their natural abilities, high-achieving individuals may do worse if they subconsciously perceive impediments (racism/sexism) in a certain academic topic. “Several factors, such as building social relationships within schools and promoting positive racial/ethnic ideology, are essential in assisting high-achieving students of color to overcome structural barriers to academic success” (Chemers et al., 2011). Additional evidence suggests that high-achieving students employ positive coping strategies like “striving harder” to persist despite perceiving racial discrimination. There is a need for further study to determine what treatments and coping mechanisms might help students in these fields succeed.
Lack of minorities’ confidence in their own skills
Self-efficacy fluctuates with assessments of one’s own experiences, such as prior performance, and with situational elements, such as prominent stereotypes, and is therefore a changeable source of domain-specific motivation. Students with low self-efficacy tend to do poorly in STEM, which in turn affects how they think about themselves and how they interact with their surroundings, which in turn affects their future performance (Blake-Beard et al., 2011). A student’s confidence and the influence it has on their drive to study are both discussed. Students with poor self-confidence face a number of obstacles. Students’ lack of self-confidence remains a significant barrier to learning that may have a negative impact on the academic success of any student.
Students from underrepresented groups may struggle in STEM classes because of psychological hurdles such as poor self-confidence, which may lead to feelings of insecurity, fear, anxiety, and a sense of isolation among students. They may cause a student to lose focus and stop learning. Researchers at Kandahar University have noticed a widespread problem with pupils not actively engaging in class (Bahari, 2010). Students’ lack of self-confidence, which may contribute to their poor performance, is a big cause for worry since it makes them more susceptible to learning challenges.
Minorities’ ability to problem-solve in college is linked to factors like their level of self-confidence, which influences their motivation and alters their behavior. Students’ unfavorable attitudes about school and learning might stem from a lack of motivation, which in turn can be attributed to a lack of self-confidence. These are the fundamental reasons and motivations for carrying out the study. If pupils continue to underachieve, it will be impossible for the recognized departments and effective curriculum to achieve their desired results.
Conclusion
In this quantitative study, the effect of minority students’ confidence in their capacity to do well in STEM-related subjects on their persistence toward degree completion was examined. A comprehensive literature review was done since factors impacting minority students may be overlooked in large-scale studies of STEM persistence. The goal of this review was to sift through the existing literature on the issue of minority students’ success in STEM fields of study at the university level, paying special attention to the role that diverse factors may play. First, looking at relevant literature to see what influences minority participation in STEM fields was done.
The review also looked into self-efficacy-related variables and other factors that impact the retention rate of minority students. This literature review drew on a variety of sources to provide illustrations of various factors that have a role in deciding the rate of representation and retention. Recent studies have demonstrated that minority students’ retention rate and sense of competence are influenced by the interaction of societal obstacles relating to racial inequity, barriers relating to unfavorable career outcomes, and unstable stress coping strategies. It is an unanswered issue whether or whether specific factors affect the percentage of minority students who get bachelor’s degrees in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). Our idea has been verified by several studies, all of which were discussed above.
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